Los Angeles Lakers defense gets back on track vs. New York Knicks

The Los Angeles Lakers got their road trip back on track with a strong defensive performance against the New York Knicks.

The Los Angeles Lakers were embarrassed on Martin Luther King Jr. day by the Boston Celtics. The purple and gold were throttled by their East Coast rivals, losing the game 139-107. It was the most points that the Lakers have allowed all season and one of the biggest defeats they have suffered as well.

A big reason for the defeat was their performance on the defensive end. The Lakers put little pressure on the Celtics, who controlled the game after Los Angeles got out to a quick 8-0 start. After that, it was all Boston.

The Lakers needed a bounce-back game in the worst way. Luckily for them, the lowly New York Knicks were next on the schedule and they took full advantage.

While the Knicks have been playing better under interim head coach Mike Miller, they couldn’t get anything going against a stifling Lakers’ defense.

Tonight, they were great on that end of the court. While their offense wasn’t playing as efficiently as it is capable of, the Lakers’ defense was doing more than enough to keep the Knicks at bay. Los Angeles would win the game 100-92, a huge turnaround after the disaster that occurred on Monday.

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New York couldn’t consistently get anything going. They shot only 40.9 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from the 3-point line.

Marcus Morris Sr. shot 4-of-9 from deep, putting on a strong shooting display for a Lakers team that has shown some interest in possibly trading for the veteran wing. Damyean Dotson shot the ball well off the bench as well, knocking down 5-of-11 attempts. That means the rest of the team was 2-of-14 from distance in the game.

Taj Gibson, who was 6-for-6, and Elfrid Payton, who was 4-of-6, were the only Knicks players to make at least half of their shot attempts in the game. With R.J. Barrett sidelined because of an ankle sprain, the Knicks don’t have much firepower offensively and the Lakers defense took full advantage.

It was good that the Lakers came to play on the defensive end of the court, as they didn’t play very well offensively.

They won’t have to wait long to get back at it, as they will finish up their back-to-back set tomorrow night against the Brooklyn Nets. Hopefully, they can continue building some momentum as they head into a big matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night to finish their road trip.